Because Monday isn't even here yet and I am thinking about all I have to do for this week and a bit stressed already. Even though I'm only taking 12 credits this semester, they're still keeping me pretty dang busy. My drawing class takes up a surprising amount of time away from class, with all the sketchbook assignments. My independent study is great to do, and so far I'm having fun with it, but it's a lot of work that I have to really motivate myself to do. I've been helping my professor rewrite the public speaking chapter for the second edition of Principles of Communication (did I tell you this already? I think I did...). So I've been going through other communication books and picking out what I think is important information and turning all that information into an outline for him.
Last time I met with him he confused me even more about what I want to do after graduation. After we had discussed my assignment for this week, we started talking about grad school, and he told me he thinks I should apply for graduate assistantship here. I'd get health insurance, take home about ~$500 a month (which isn't a whole lot, but it's reasonable when you're going to school, plus the part that I'm not taking home would be going toward tuition). I would teach about 3 classes a week, the Principles of Communication classes that nearly everyone at this university has to take. It sounds like a great opportunity for me too, which stresses me out even more because now I have to think about applying to grad school and for the assistantship here soon! Then he went on to highly discourage me from taking a break from school. Trust me, I know how risky it is. Too many people "take a break" from school and never return because they get comfortable working and not having to worry about studying. I understand the risks completely, but I am still drawn to the idea. I'm thinking maybe just one or two semesters, tops. I'm also still thinking of the place in Illinois too. Did I already write about that? I don't think so. Anyway about a week and a half ago I came across this small university in Deerfield, Illinois (near Chicago) which offers a master's program in Communication & Culture, which is the field of communication I am most fascinated by. It's a smaller Christian university called Trinity International. So I'm going to list pros and cons of getting my master's program at NMSU and TIU.
NMSU Pros:
I already know Las Cruces and the university.
I'd get in-state tuition.
I'd be able to teach communication classes.
I really like the communication faculty here.
I'd get paid, plus benefits.
It's not too far from my family.
NMSU Cons:
Nothing against Las Cruces or New Mexico or NMSU, but I have this restless urge deep within to experience somewhere completely new, a longing to try living elsewhere in the country.
Doesn't offer an emphasis in culture.
TIU Pros:
(See above about experiencing someplace new in the country).
Smaller, Christian university might be an interesting change.
Illinois is lovely.
Near Chicago; I'd have the ability to experience this city at my disposal!
Near Lake Michigan.
Offers the Culture emphasis.
TIU Cons:
Doesn't offer the grad assistant opportunity.
More expensive; no in-state tuition.
Far from my family :(
Likely colder, longer winters!
I like winter, but I'm usually ready for warm weather by the time January rolls around.
¡¡¡¿Qué voy a hacer?!!!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
grilled cheese
Some interesting takes on grilled cheese that I'd like to try!
http://www.delish.com/recipes/cooking-recipes/best-grilled-cheese-sandwich-recipes?gt1=47001
http://www.delish.com/recipes/cooking-recipes/best-grilled-cheese-sandwich-recipes?gt1=47001
Lists
Two lists today. One is of things I'd like to invest in; when I start saving up more money I can eventually by these one at a time. The other is books I would like to read in the next several months.
Things to invest in:
Reebok Easy Tone shoes
Video camera
CamelBak
Snowpants (I have no need for these in Las Cruces, and I probably have no need for them at all til next winter, but now is probably a good time to buy them because they'll be on sale!)
Snowboots (see above)
Hair straightener (I never used to straighten my hair, but on New Year's my sister straightened my hair with her straightener, and I loved it!)
Snowboarding lessons-ok, this is a random thing to put on the list, but recently I decided I want to learn to snowboard. I tried skiing once, three years ago. It was fun but SO hard. I can just see myself more as a snowboarder than a skier, not that it will be much easier to learn. This probably won't happen for a year or two though.
Books to read:
Into the Wild-I just started reading it...one of my favorite movies.
The Lovely Bones
The Kite Runner (I saw the movie on TV not long ago, and now I want to read it)
Blue Like Jazz (I have this, I just haven't gotten around to reading it)
Harry Potter-I've read all of them, but I want to reread them.
Things to invest in:
Reebok Easy Tone shoes
Video camera
CamelBak
Snowpants (I have no need for these in Las Cruces, and I probably have no need for them at all til next winter, but now is probably a good time to buy them because they'll be on sale!)
Snowboots (see above)
Hair straightener (I never used to straighten my hair, but on New Year's my sister straightened my hair with her straightener, and I loved it!)
Snowboarding lessons-ok, this is a random thing to put on the list, but recently I decided I want to learn to snowboard. I tried skiing once, three years ago. It was fun but SO hard. I can just see myself more as a snowboarder than a skier, not that it will be much easier to learn. This probably won't happen for a year or two though.
Books to read:
Into the Wild-I just started reading it...one of my favorite movies.
The Lovely Bones
The Kite Runner (I saw the movie on TV not long ago, and now I want to read it)
Blue Like Jazz (I have this, I just haven't gotten around to reading it)
Harry Potter-I've read all of them, but I want to reread them.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Happy MLK, Jr. Day!
Yesterday I was depressed because the Cowboys lost, therefore no more Cowboys til next season, so I went and bought shoes. About a week ago I was at Payless in Santa Fe and found these really cute black dress shoes, but decided that I didn't need to spend money on them. But then yesterday happened, so I went to see if the Payless in Las Cruces had them. Sure did! So now I have a shiny new pair of black slingbacks to wear with my graduation dress. I'm obsessed with my new dress, and here's why. About three weeks ago I was in Albuquerque with my parents, and my mom and I decided just to check out the expensive dresses in Caché. I wandered to the back where the sale dresses were and came across this particular dress. It was very different and oh-so silky soft! I thought, "I'll just try it on for the heck of it." I slipped it on in the dressing room, and immediately thought, "Ok, I can't not buy this dress." It was like it was made for me! Perfect fit, amazing colors, I had to buy it. I showed my mom and she agreed. I looked at the price tag...originally $179, then marked down to $90, plus it was on a 50% off clearance rack. I paid $45 for it! So I will wear it for my graduation in May, but I wish I could wear it to something sooner! See the pic at the end of this blog :) I am so excited to wear it. It's very unique, as it has both halter straps and regular straps and the pattern is just so different.
Changing subject...I met with my independent study professor on Friday, and for now I am going to be helping him rewrite a chapter for the third edition of the Communication 265 book (the class that pretty much everyone at the university has to take). It's the chapter on public speaking, and I'm starting off with the section on informative speeches. I hope I do well with this, I don't want to disappoint. However, I think I'll succeed because I have usually been good at picking out information that seems to be most important and writing outlines, plus editing is one of my strengths :) So we'll see how it goes the next time I meet with him.
Hope everyone's had a dandy three-day (if applicable) weekend!
My new dress and shoes!
Jake & his Bears jersey that I got him for Christmas
Both of us...we were bored yesterday evening :)
Changing subject...I met with my independent study professor on Friday, and for now I am going to be helping him rewrite a chapter for the third edition of the Communication 265 book (the class that pretty much everyone at the university has to take). It's the chapter on public speaking, and I'm starting off with the section on informative speeches. I hope I do well with this, I don't want to disappoint. However, I think I'll succeed because I have usually been good at picking out information that seems to be most important and writing outlines, plus editing is one of my strengths :) So we'll see how it goes the next time I meet with him.
Hope everyone's had a dandy three-day (if applicable) weekend!
My new dress and shoes!
Jake & his Bears jersey that I got him for Christmas
Both of us...we were bored yesterday evening :)
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Adventure South!
First day of class was good...all I have on Tuesdays and Thursdays is International Communication, which is from 1:10 to 2:25 in the afternoon, so that's pretty sweet. It's taught by my favorite professor (with whom I'm doing independent study) and it sounds like it will be a very valuable class, what with increasing awareness of and discussing global issues and such.
Now about my blog title...
My great-great uncle Kenneth VanHee (who I never met) has become an inspiration to me. I believe the year was around 1941, and he and two other men, funded by Plymouth, took a small four-door 1941 Plymouth on an expedition down the Richardson Panamerican Highway. The journey began in Detroit, Michigan, went down to Mexico, all the way down through Central and South America, until they reached Cape Horn, SA, the very southern tip. The purpose of this expedition was for Plymouth to market their car and show what a perilous journey it could survive (not to mention the men themselves). This was when most of the roads in Central and South America were still unpaved, and sometimes the men and the car had to catch a ride across rivers on a raft pulled by donkeys or oxen. Somehow they made it to Cape Horn, the automobile still alive, the men fulfilled after encountering so many interesting and amazing characters along the way (including the Presidents of Mexico and another CA country).
I hadn't given this jewel of family history much thought until a few weeks ago, when my dad did some research online and found the documentary on this expedition, where we are able to see video shots of my great-great uncle (who definitely looks much like my late great-grandma, his twin). Seeing the documentary inspired me, and I dug out the book that my family owns of the same expedition, called Adventure South! (yes, the exclamation point is part of the title). I browsed through the pages, smiling at the humor and crazy situations and hardships and the photos taken along the way, including shots of the travelers, the natives they meet, the animals...one could probably see the gears turning in my head, ideas forming, as I flipped through the pages, reading bits and pieces of this experience.
A couple months ago I was talking to my second cousin about my desire to do some traveling and cultural immersion, as well as my previous experiences doing so (like in Honduras and Costa Rica), and she told me, "You definitely have you Uncle Ken's travel genes." At this time I knew Ken had done some traveling in South America and that we had one of the copies of the book, but I didn't know much about it. So when my dad found the documentary and I actually sat down and looked through that book, I was amazed. It got my imagination worked up again, and I began thinking, "Wouldn't it be great if I cold retrace my great-great uncle's path to Cape Horn?" Obviously the journey would be easier, but perhaps more dangerous, with the political, economical, and other situations at hand in many Central and South American countries. A quote from an article about this expedition online (which was updated March of 2006) says, "The Richardson Pan American Highway Expedition was perhaps the last great automotive adventure undertaken on the face of this earth".
Wouldn't it be great if I could do it again?
Now about my blog title...
My great-great uncle Kenneth VanHee (who I never met) has become an inspiration to me. I believe the year was around 1941, and he and two other men, funded by Plymouth, took a small four-door 1941 Plymouth on an expedition down the Richardson Panamerican Highway. The journey began in Detroit, Michigan, went down to Mexico, all the way down through Central and South America, until they reached Cape Horn, SA, the very southern tip. The purpose of this expedition was for Plymouth to market their car and show what a perilous journey it could survive (not to mention the men themselves). This was when most of the roads in Central and South America were still unpaved, and sometimes the men and the car had to catch a ride across rivers on a raft pulled by donkeys or oxen. Somehow they made it to Cape Horn, the automobile still alive, the men fulfilled after encountering so many interesting and amazing characters along the way (including the Presidents of Mexico and another CA country).
I hadn't given this jewel of family history much thought until a few weeks ago, when my dad did some research online and found the documentary on this expedition, where we are able to see video shots of my great-great uncle (who definitely looks much like my late great-grandma, his twin). Seeing the documentary inspired me, and I dug out the book that my family owns of the same expedition, called Adventure South! (yes, the exclamation point is part of the title). I browsed through the pages, smiling at the humor and crazy situations and hardships and the photos taken along the way, including shots of the travelers, the natives they meet, the animals...one could probably see the gears turning in my head, ideas forming, as I flipped through the pages, reading bits and pieces of this experience.
A couple months ago I was talking to my second cousin about my desire to do some traveling and cultural immersion, as well as my previous experiences doing so (like in Honduras and Costa Rica), and she told me, "You definitely have you Uncle Ken's travel genes." At this time I knew Ken had done some traveling in South America and that we had one of the copies of the book, but I didn't know much about it. So when my dad found the documentary and I actually sat down and looked through that book, I was amazed. It got my imagination worked up again, and I began thinking, "Wouldn't it be great if I cold retrace my great-great uncle's path to Cape Horn?" Obviously the journey would be easier, but perhaps more dangerous, with the political, economical, and other situations at hand in many Central and South American countries. A quote from an article about this expedition online (which was updated March of 2006) says, "The Richardson Pan American Highway Expedition was perhaps the last great automotive adventure undertaken on the face of this earth".
Wouldn't it be great if I could do it again?
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
In two days...
I will begin my last semester as a undergrad student! It hasn't exactly hit me yet how exciting/scary that is. In a way, I hope this semester doesn't breeze by because I want to soak it up and enjoy these next four months; however, I don't want it to drag on either. I have a feeling that I will have plenty of free time; I'm only taking 12 credits, and although I'm sure my classes will keep me somewhat occupied, I will likely have time to fill with (hopefully) a job, job-searching for after college, etc. I miss my family and the two cats (lol), but it's nice to be back in my apartment and into the school groove. Somehow I accumulated so much over the break and had to haul it all back to Las Cruces. I didn't think I got that much for my birthday/Christmas, but it sure seems like I did! I'll have to go through all my old things and figure out what I do not need, especially clothes. I have this habit of keeping clothes that I never wear, thinking, "Oh, I will wear it more often", or "This would be great for [insert whatever occasion I think of at the time which I never have experienced, nor never will but since there is a minuscule possibility, I keep the attire]". I need to break the habit, and if I come across something I do not wear, stop fooling myself into thinking it will come in handy someday or that I will miss it, and just stuff it in a bag of things-to-get-rid-of! Garage sale in the summer? I think yes.
I suppose I should sign off soon and go to Wal-Mart for groceries. I came home yesterday to these foods (some of which I brought with me):
Shredded cheese, okra, Oreos, butter, caramel corn, saltines, hot chocolate, taco shells, raspberry jam, and condiments. If you can think up a meal using these, major props. I "had" to go to Blake's to get a lotaburger last night because I have nothing sufficient to eat. I know, woe is me.
Later dudes.
I suppose I should sign off soon and go to Wal-Mart for groceries. I came home yesterday to these foods (some of which I brought with me):
Shredded cheese, okra, Oreos, butter, caramel corn, saltines, hot chocolate, taco shells, raspberry jam, and condiments. If you can think up a meal using these, major props. I "had" to go to Blake's to get a lotaburger last night because I have nothing sufficient to eat. I know, woe is me.
Later dudes.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Podcasts galore!
Thanks to Jake I've become addicted to listening to podcasts. It started with This American Life, which he told me I'd like because it is full of stories about everyday life in America; some are funny, some are moving, some are just random. But he was right, I subscribed to it on iTunes and now I listen to it when I'm just relaxing in my room, driving the long road between Las Cruces and White Rock, and even sometimes before I go to bed. Today I decided to expand my podcast-horizons and started searching for others that I might enjoy. I ended up subscribing to a couple NPR podcasts and also The Onion (I know...SO mature, but I actually find the dumb, made-up stories of The Onion really funny). I am in the process of searching for a good sports podcast that I will like, because while I am totally all about the Cowboys and watch every game I can (usually) and understand 98% of football, I want to expand my sports horizons as well and keep up to date with all the happenings in the sports world. I am hoping to one day be able to follow all the NFL teams' stats and standings and know what's going on all the time, like my dad does haha! I also would like to learn more about hockey, as that is Jake's sport and dating him has made me more interested in it. So I need a sports podcast that isn't just sports news, because sports news is boring to me, but more like inside glances and opinions. The best thing about my becoming podcast-happy and downloading them in mass quantities is that most of them are free! Anyway I recommend you try listening to some if you do not, and maybe start with This American Life.
Friday, January 1, 2010
2010 here I come!
Well I am going to be slightly cliche and post a happy new year post on my blog...so, HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010! Last night my family, Jake and I went to the New Year's Eve party at Home Run where we all played lots of pool, air hockey, and shot of fireworks in front of the shop. It was fun, and we did not get to bed til about 3 AM. Then we had to wake up early this morning because some family friends who we have not seen in a couple of years were in town and came to visit. So I guess I don't really need to point out that I'm a little more than tired; I even ended up dozing off on the floor in the family room earlier (all the seats were taken :( ). If this were any other year I may not be as excited about it, but this year (I'm hoping) will hold many opportunities and defining points in my life, although I hope that every year will be that way for me. I'm graduating this year from NMSU and will be starting that era of life called career. That means I will soon have to figure out what I want to start with job-wise so I can begin sending out resumes. I probably need to go visit the career counseling and exploration center on campus, because I definitely need some help. And I know I don't need to figure out "my calling" yet, but I should start thinking about what I want to begin with.
Changing subjects. So my parents have been wanting to get a kitten since all three of us "kids" will finally be out of the house at the same time, and they want another companion. I went to Albuquerque with my parents from Wednesday to Thursday to do some after-Christmas shopping, and we stopped at the Santa Fe shelter (where my aunt works) on the way back yesterday. My parents were wanting one male kitten, and we came back home with two females instead :) My aunt had one on hold for them that she thought they would like (a 2-3 month old orange tabby), and my mom fell in love with her. Meanwhile, my dad decided to just go "look around" at the other cats, and one black and white kitten (6 months old) in particular caught his eye, so he took it back to where my mom was and this one just flopped down in his arms and fell asleep. So they ended up with both lol! The younger one likes to follow the older one around and is very shy and was really scared when we first brought her, but she is starting to enjoy human company a little more and exploring the house bit by bit. The older one, on the other hand, seems completely comfortable with anyone in any situation. As soon as we let her out of the crate when we got home, she did not seem nervous at all, just curious, and will go up to everyone to cuddle and rub her head against. They are both very sweet. I will post pictures in one of my next blogs.
I hope you all have a wonderful 2010!
Changing subjects. So my parents have been wanting to get a kitten since all three of us "kids" will finally be out of the house at the same time, and they want another companion. I went to Albuquerque with my parents from Wednesday to Thursday to do some after-Christmas shopping, and we stopped at the Santa Fe shelter (where my aunt works) on the way back yesterday. My parents were wanting one male kitten, and we came back home with two females instead :) My aunt had one on hold for them that she thought they would like (a 2-3 month old orange tabby), and my mom fell in love with her. Meanwhile, my dad decided to just go "look around" at the other cats, and one black and white kitten (6 months old) in particular caught his eye, so he took it back to where my mom was and this one just flopped down in his arms and fell asleep. So they ended up with both lol! The younger one likes to follow the older one around and is very shy and was really scared when we first brought her, but she is starting to enjoy human company a little more and exploring the house bit by bit. The older one, on the other hand, seems completely comfortable with anyone in any situation. As soon as we let her out of the crate when we got home, she did not seem nervous at all, just curious, and will go up to everyone to cuddle and rub her head against. They are both very sweet. I will post pictures in one of my next blogs.
I hope you all have a wonderful 2010!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)